Verandah House

by Still Space Architecture

This house is an Asian inspired design with a modern contemporary concept renovation to an existing historic weatherboard house in Sydney.

Still Space Architecture have created a series of structures within a walled garden, providing a seclusion and refuge within a suburban setting and flexibility for future use.

The design of Verandah House is a narrative of movement created between the public and private zones, modulated by the verandah, the repetition of structure and framed garden views.

The site strategy allows the historic weatherboard house to be kept within its entirety, creating a sequence of garden courtyards linking the old and new buildings.

Functions of living and sleeping areas, of day and night, are separated by the verandah, with quieter sleeping spaces carved within the new brick pavilion. Moving from sleeping to living areas allows open interaction with weather and light variations.

Materials are contrasted to highlight separation of form between old and new structures.

The pavilion transitions from one storey to three storey as the site falls to the garden. The scale of this is controlled by the roof form falling steeply to the street. Solid to void ratios on the façade, and material changes ease the height and mass of the form.

The built form reads as a simple rectilinear form with pitched roofs, in keeping with its suburban context. The massing of form on the site minimises overshadowing, heat gain and strategically blocks and frames views.

The pavilion is located on the western boundary, with an enclosing brick wall, the pool façade to the East is transparent and operable. And perforated screens modulate light and channel views into the surrounding rainforest like garden.

A central stair in the home, is open to the sky and garden views. Its sunken alcove allows for a quiet space within, to dwell and relax. Colour has been used to define the volumes within creating intimate spaces for rest and exterior Turquoise glazed bricks reference the fresh cool reflections of the pool.

The house functions as a flexible space for the occupants with the built-in internal structure designed to enable for future adjustments and provides multi-generational use in the separation of private and public spaces across day and night.

This building form allows the occupants to intimately engage with the surrounding landscape when entertaining guest, or enjoying private family time.

The integration of skilled contractors and consultants and the owner builder model permitted flexibility in construction, and controlling building costs in terms of time, and material selection.

A small footprint warranted specification of high performance robust materials, increasing the longevity and functionality of the house.

Keep up to date with The Local Project’s latest interviews, project overviews, collections releases and more – view our TLP Articles & News.

Explore more design, interior & architecture archives in our TLP Archives Gallery.